Kim Jung-un crossed the 38th Parallel line southward for the historic third inter-Korean summit on April 27, 2018. It was a 12 hour-long event that included a summit talk, a break, a stroll, the monumental event of planting a tree, and a banquet.
US President Donald Trump has been advocating striking North Korea’s nuclear facilities since taking office in January. However, he will be restrained from delivering such an order for both empirical and strategic reasons. And China knows too well that it won’t happen.
South Korea is feeling the heat, not only from the heat waves of summer but also from the heated debates surrounding President Park Geun-hye’s July 8 announcement of the decision to deploy THAAD. The nation has been polarized between those saying “nay” and “aye.”
A significant cut in oil supplies to North Korea will not invite its collapse unlike what conventional views hold. Instead it will coerce the regime to come out of isolation and give up nuclear weapons in order to keep the regime alive.
The results of South Korea’s legislative elections on April 13 took many by surprise, as the ruling party was roundly defeated by two opposition parties. President Park’s government will be greatly challenged by the legislature on both domestic and foreign policy fronts.